Middleton Moor Carving (453), North Yorkshire

Cup-and-Line Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 10968 51279

Archaeology & History

Carving no. 453

Named boringly after the catalogue number given it in Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey, this is another of the many small cup-marked stones clustered at the western end of the ridge between Delves Beck and Dryas Dike, below the moorland slope up to the Old Pike and Beamsley Beacon.  It’s one of the more impressive of the carvings in this locale, albeit when it’s highlighted, as in the photos shown here (apparently done by one of the photographers in the Ilkley rock art group, I was told).  It’s perhaps better seen when the sun is low and the stone’s been wet, which shows the shallow undulations of the cup-marks and wavy line that seems to split the main group of twelve cup-marks  at the top northern side of the stone, from the two on its south side.  There seems to be another wavy line carved above the main cluster, but this is difficult to make out.

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.

© Paul BennettThe Northern Antiquarian

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